For me it’s at work where we don’t acknowledge what’s really happening and it is starting to drive me a little mad.
I work in a very diverse workforce, but for a very old fashioned company, and politics are not spoken of.
But I am surrounded by immigrants and people who are probably here on work visas, or are just dark skinned, and I have to think they are living with a constant background fear that is steadily rising but they never talk about it and I never say anything. I have a whole cycle of shame with it.
Work is already a compartmentalized space for many people. Some places, by rote, have no politics or religion on their daily, invisible walls in existence for decades before Trump in power was even a thought. To have that in the workplace is normal. Mileage varies, no doubt, there is no 100% with people.
Sometimes you run into That Person who breaks the rules and makes the entire room break eye contact, bow head, and disengage to focus on work. There’s a reason most people don’t talk to them.
Where this is going to resonate most, now, is for people who do most of their in person talking to others at their job. For people who only encounter non white people at their job.
For me, work is the reprieve zone from it all. I have a job to do, my focus is on it. At least until we too have Immigration & Customs Enforcement in our halls.
Again, compartmentalization. Not just to do a better, more focused job (how much this matters also depends on what the job is, to you) but to engage in a mental moment of reprieve from thinking about our fallen republic.
There is a way you can quietly, unobtrusively support these people: just get to know them. If you get to know people, and by this I mean really listen, and take interest in what they say when they speak of whatever is important to them, later on all the little ways you can help will arise from that personal, direct knowledge over time, and between now and then maybe you’ve made a friend.
I’m not saying drape yourself over their cubicle wall and ask them detailed questions about their national traditions until you’re glowing and they’re weirded out; I’m saying get interested in who they are and what they have to say, and try to do it as naturally as you can. If you’re not good at friendly small talk, at least know their names and greet them like you’re glad to know them. In whatever way it means to you, be a friend so that when friends are needed, you’re on their list.
Don’t think that this casual ongoing personal interaction is powerless: rather, it is the source of our greatest strength. Community is what is saving Minneapolis, community is what is defeating ICE, community is what is getting people spontaneously out on the streets in freezing weather to prove that together we – a whole lot of individual I’s – WE have no intention of quietly standing for this shit.
WE is the most powerful thing we have.
And it all starts right where you are now: wanting to help and having no idea how. But you asked. To me, that counts.
Getting to know people before the trouble starts is how you know the best ways to act in their behalf if they ever need it, in ways that do not trample their agency or cause humiliation or, god forbid, increase their dread. As a nation of citizens we have been set at each others’ throats for far too long, a division that only succeeds because we plant ourselves behind screens and let complete strangers tell us what to think and how to feel. In doing this, we have forgotten how to just be friends. So start there. Pay attention to others. Greet people when you see them, even a nod. Learn to listen. Take general interest. See who responds and who doesn’t. In time this will open every door that can be opened, and also allow those who have their own reasons for staying aloof the personal privacy they want.
I feel the whole shame thing, but if you can, give yourself permission to set it aside. Seriously. Everyone starts somewhere. You’re starting here, and honestly I’m grateful for every single one of us who is feeling just as lost and wondering right now what can I do to help? But you asked; you’ve already made a start. It’s a good one. No shame required. And if you have nothing better in mind, then the answer is, build community. However you can, wherever you can, in whatever small ways feel right to you so that when the shit starts you’re already known as an ally.
EDITED to add link
Be the change you want to see then?
I’m in Canada but also a very diverse group of people around me at all times. I make it very clear with everyone that politics aside, I have all their backs regardless of race, colour or creed. Differences are what makes us stronger not weaker and anyone who is afraid of differences shows themselves as weak.
Most of my coworkers in my area are older and white, but the rest of the company is highly mixed. I know most of them are Republicans and are enjoying this sick show even if they’re not saying it. Most days I just want to scream.
They all are waiting on someone to fix it. They wont do anything until it comes to their door. By then it will be way too late for most of us.
Invite folks to join you at a protest, or canvassing, or almost anything else that is more than zero. A big chunk of the population can be hooked on action if somebody they know asks.
I am the token white guy where I work and none of my coworkers want to talk about it. They don’t want to protest. They think they are gonna be left alone. They are just one ICE encounter away from finding out but until then they will not step outside their bubble.
Why would they? It’s an additional hazard. They know exactly where the line is for being the slow gazelle that gets killed. It’s in their bones. You’re just new to the game and haven’t internalized how fucked how quickly things will get for you if you step out of line.
Head in the sand until dead in dirt. That is some solution.
i’m not welcome at protests because i’m white and male. why would I go if I am not welcome and seen as a threat rather than a friend? i’m not interested in attending events where i am not welcome.
I’m white and male and I have attended plenty of protests in my 40 years of living. If you’re viewed as a threat instead of a friend, that ain’t the reason.
right, please tell me how my support of leftist causes is problematic and wrong. just like they did.
Considering the dumb shit you post all the time to Lemmy, I’m gonna have to go with “you aren’t actually in support of anything to the left.”
This is utter nonsense. Just show up and don’t be an asshole. Nobody is going to kick you out over skin color or gender.
it’s nonsense to you. It’s my lived experience of attending multiple protests. being told to go fuck myself for just being there. because i look like ‘the enemy’. whatever that means.
so i stopped protesting at all, because it’s not worth it to be verbally assaulted and physically threatened by your so called ‘allies’.
All I can say is that your experience is wildly different from any I’ve run into, and would be really unlikely unless you did something.
Yeah, that’s the nature of experience, people have different ones. I would agree with you that, for the most part, if you show up to support a protest then you’ll be welcomed and not pushed out, but someones experience in Ohio might be different from someone else’s experience in Texas, California, Florida, or NY.
I live in the US south east and moved from one city to another about 3 hours away. When I did so my workplace went from 95% white to 65% black. Protests went from politically charged and racially neutral to religious based and racially charged. Your experience in one place is no guarantee for other people’s experiences in another.
I have no idea where this guy is from, but I could totally see a place in the US where a middle class white guy showing up would raise some eyebrows.
All in all my experience matches yours, but I am also reminded of this video from several years ago. Maybe this video is fake, maybe it’s doctored, or taken out of context, but as it appears in the video it’s just an example that perceptions and opinions can be different for different people and the crowd doesn’t always support you.
Nah she’s playing with fire. Maybe she “don’t talk gud “, but this is a favorite talking point of deniers. This is exactly the scenario of dismissing BLM concerns with “all lives matter”. Technically true but offensively misleading
Is she right? Sure, anyone can be racist, no demographic has a monopoly only on that. All lives should matter
But she’s absolutely wrong to bring it up in this scenario, it’s another case of “both sides the same”, or a what aboutism. She’s effectively dismissing their concerns
and maybe your expereince isn’t universal. maybe leftists are as accepting and tolerant and wonderful as you think they are.
oh by the way, you know one reason i harassed? because i look jewish.
weird how the anti-nazis behave like nazis…
You’re giving yourself away by frothing at the mouth about leftism and pretending that anyone on the left is advancing the cause of anti-Semitism.
Maybe be more subtle next time.
What an absolute load of dishonest self-pitying BS. Lying troll. You’ve never been to a single leftist protest in your life.
so violence is cool, as long as it’s against anyone who isn’t like you, or doesn’t look like you, right?
And if anyone says maybe that’s not cool, they aren’t one of you, and violence is justified against them.
awfully convenient.
That’s how it’s always been don’t be naive.
What protests are you going to? The overwhelming majority of people I know who goto protests are white and no one has had such a complaint (yes I don’t have a diverse acquaintance group). Yes I’m white Middle Aged Christian male, ticking all the boxes except “sociopath”, and I’ve always felt welcome
I especially note the BLM protests from a few years ago, as predominantly darker skin people, but I still never felt anything but welcome
I bet you don’t have a girlfriend cuz “all women are whores and sluts”.
I don’t have a girlfriend because I keep meeting women who want 1950s style marriages where I am their sole provider. And I’m not interested in that. I want an equal partner.
You’re an imbecile. There are 1000s of white males at all of the large protests from coast to coast, Boston to L.A.
You spout a lot of BS. You need to get lost or get your head out of your ass and learn reality.
deleted by creator
the average person has no idea how to fix any of it. they have been voting back and forth for years, and nothing has changed.
average people also deeply disagree on how to fix it. and above average people are more than happy to take average people’s money to tell them how they are going to fix it, and use it to enrich themselves while doing nothing.
There’s 3 states. You could probably subdivide it further, but the basics are -
- Fuck yeah, make kings and inflict suffering
- can’t be bothered to deal with it for whatever reason
- How the hell can we stop the crazy train?
I’m proudly in camp 3, but holy fuck am I exhausted and depressed!
We know how to stop it, but we’ll probably end up dead or imprisoned forever for it so… The revolution will only happen when a lot of people of nothing left to lose.
A lot of organized people with nothing to lose. Nothing changes if one man with a gun takes to the street, see Willem Van Spronson.
I just can’t be friends with people who don’t seriously want every republican drown.
Thankfully, we are not currently facing a situation as grave as Nazism: Today’s America is not 1940s Germany.
…yet.
I mean, they’re right, we’re in mid to late 1930’s Germany. I haven’t seen any truly hopeful signs of redemption coming out way.
I’ve seen some hope. The protests we’ve got going on in Minnesota have had huge turnout, without any major mistakes on the side of protestors (read: violence)
I’m seeing more and more apolitical, for lack of a better word, people speaking out against what is happening now. Technology Connections included a very frank political discussion in his most recent video, as an example
People in my personal life, who were previously dismissive of my concerns around Trump, have changed their tune
The situation is not great, but there are rays of hope
You’re right, there are “rays of hope” I suppose, but I’m in the twin cities metro and we in my circle of friends and family aren’t feeling particularly hopeful. It’s hard not to feel crushed by the brutality that has been going on. We’ve been volunteering to get groceries for people and to pick up kids from school whose parents are afraid to do so, but we have our family situation doesn’t really allow us to be away from the house much. Many of my daughter’s friends are full remote for school now even though they are citizens because of their ethnicity. It’s just rough and it has been hard to not feel like we’re barreling towards a full nazi experience.
People in my personal life, who were previously dismissive of my concerns around Trump, have changed their tune
Can confirm. I live in a bellwether city, whoever we voted for has been the president for the last… 8 times? 10 times? idk, quite a few times.
The city previously had quite a number of Trump flags on houses. During his first term, the “Trump trains” would routinely roll through town, and you would hear them honking for a good 3 - 5 minutes as they all drove by. They came in from other cities mostly, but still, there would be like 50ish “I need to compensate for something” type trucks with Trump flags on the back.
Now, even the flags are rare. My neighbor who literally flew a Confederate flag for a while - in California, mind you, my joke being “Southern California will rise again” - took his Trump flag down after the first round of Epstein stuff and it hasn’t gone back up yet. The “Trump trains” are gone. They tried them a few times during the start of his second term, maybe a few months in, but having a “train” of only like 5 people just feels more pathetic than impressive, so they quit that. Haven’t seen one in months.
Also, the Trump administration simply appears to be way less competent than the (original) Nazis were. The second season is scarier than the first, but that’s a large part of what saved us during the first season too.
However! Let’s not forget that the Democrats waged an internationally-recognized genocide against the Palestinian people because they’re also owned by Zionazis and corporate interests. The people don’t “win” unless both corporate-owned, pedophile-and-or-genocidaire-run parties are completely removed from power. NOT reformed, removed.
My neighbor who literally flew a Confederate flag for a while - in California, mind you, my joke being “Southern California will rise again” - took his Trump flag down after the first round of Epstein stuff and it hasn’t gone back up yet
Man, this just gave me an idea. Print off a bunch of copies of the new pages about the allegations against Trump, then start mailing them out to houses with Trump flags up. No additions or alterations, other than to include “published by the United States Department of Justice, January 30th, 2026” along with a direct link to the pages on the DOJ site (or maybe an archive.org link to it, since they already took it down once)
Edit to respond to your whole comment:
Also, the Trump administration simply appears to be way less competent than the (original) Nazis were. The second season is scarier than the first, but that’s a large part of what saved us during the first season too.
I agree it seems less competent – Hitler actually wanted to improve the living standards for Aryan Germans; whereas Trump wants to enrich himself and his billionaire sycophants – we also have no realistic chance for external factors to bring down the regime as happened with the Nazis. There is zero chance the US would ever be invaded. No country will want to go to war with the US. They’ll simply stop doing business with us, like Russia or North Korea
That’s a pretty good idea lol. I’ve been thinking of just printing out particularly egregious pages and slapping them up on stickers.
Yeah, and 1930s Germany wasn’t 1940s Germany. But it got there.
The real hazard, at least at present, to the average person is our dysfunctional healthcare system. It might be less “in your face” than some of the other factors, but it is insidious and affects everyone except those at the top.
the system is fine as long as you have good insurance. the average person still has employer sponsored insurance that is fairly decent.
the shitty part of the system is those who are getting bad insurance. which is mostly those who are getting it outside of employer insurance. large employer insurance has lower rates because it’s a bigger pool of purchasing power. it’s small employers and independence insurance that screws people over.
Lol no. You can have “decent insurance” and still have your Nazi insurance company suddenly decide not to cover a life threatening illness and instantly bankrupt you. Insurance companies are literal death panels.
People die in this country every day because they put off uncovered treatment to avoid crippling debt.
That’s not a typical occurrence.
The reality is that most people have insurance coverage, even if the cost is excessive, paperwork is excessive and there are too many coverage exceptions. And most people never encounter corporate death panels.
This is yet another “us vs them” scenario. Enough voters can say “at least I have better coverage than ….” That there is less pressure to fix it and too many people afraid of losing what they have.
Personally I have decent enough insurance (while I’m employed) that I would likely lose on universal coverage. However I’m aware of the total cost to myself and my employer, which is entirely obscene, and I realize it’s contingent on being employed, in an industry known for regular layoffs. I’m part of the problem since I’m “good enough” to not push for better, but also the solution since I would vote for universal coverage because I’m not a sociopath nor an idiot
Yep we’re dealing with this now and they’ve spent a year asking for extra tests and specialist recommendations to obstruct the needed surgery. The only explanation at this point is they’re obstructing until job loss
depends on how much money you have.
Spoken like the 1% or someone who’s never used healthcare I’m the states
lower rates because it’s a bigger pool of purchasing power
You’re so close to getting it
Sure, if you’re rich enough, white enough, conformist enough, it’s fine. That’s the point.
This response is a perfect example of the lowered expectations in the US.
What happens if you lose your job? I’m not sure I’d want to have job security and health care coupled together.
What is wild to me is that it’s been obvious to me since I was a teenager, several decades ago, that the US has been like this for many (most?) people for ages. If you’re black, poor, an immigrant, deviate from the acceptable behavior template in any way, they’re perfectly happy to bust down your door and take everything and anything from you. It’s nearly always been like that. If it hasn’t been for you, you’re probably invested heavily in keeping it that way. And now what we’re seeing is the “in” group is just shrinking a bit more, the acceptable behavior template is shifting just slightly. Enough to provoke alarm in many but not action in enough.
“first they came for…” and so on.
Always. Repeatedly. Forever.
Dual state isn’t doing it justice.
Faceted is a proper word choice.
The “grandparent test” won’t necessarily work on child-free and anti-natalists though. Unless they plan on adopting I guess in the latter category.
Everything is normal.
It’s always been this way. You’re just upset you have to be confronted with it rather than having it be hidden and silent. Protestors have always been killed or hurt. Immigrants have always been persecuted.
And everyone is political, they just don’t care to make it a everyday of every moment facet of their identity, activist do. Most people are not, and never will be, activists. And that’s fine.
And you don’t win average people over by screaming, crying, and lecturing them how awful they are for not being ‘as upset’ as you are. Or why they aren’t ‘doing anything’. You push them away from your cause.
You’re just wrong, but that’s alright.
9/11 is really where the modern world was birthed in terms of American politics.
Sure it’s been terrible in the past, but it hasn’t always been this terrible and for about 30 years or so it has been restrained (Rodney king protests). It went Cold War during this time and most adults 40 and below have known relative peace in the U.S. in conjunction with government sanctioned violence towards our own people.
Don’t twist these ideas with a flawed concept of we “always have done it this way ” as if human society hasn’t progressed whatsoever. With this outlook we would have been living in caves and fields all the way up to now. It’s like oppressive defeatism, and it’s just utterly pointless.
Just because things have been one way doesn’t mean it can’t be changed.
The world is not binary and we can always push forward for positive changes.
study more history.
american history has always had oppressed groups being throw in camps and persecuted.
the world existed before 2001.
Yeah, you are right!
The world did exist before 2001, and yet clearly your reading comprehension skills don’t exist in the year 2026.
Yeah, I’m stupid. Please tell me more how wrong I am daddy. You are so correct and right.
The patriot act is the source of all evil, and Americans never hated each other before then!
I asserted you were wrong and listed why I said that to you.
You begin the ad hominem attack by telling me to study more history without providing any reasoning behind your claim.
You could have said “oh just look at the Tulsa Massacre, CIA Activities, government toppling, agent orange, My Lai Massacre, the treatment of minority groups throughout our countries history, slavery, systemic racism and injustice, rampant corporatism, resource guarding, Kent State Massacre, political assassinations of civil rights leaders, mkultra, fbi congress bribing scandals, the Tuskegee experiment, and etc”
you deliberately ignored the nuance of the first half of my message to respond with the same tired message of “America Bad”.
We are both allowed to express our opinions, and mine is that even if my first point is wrong, we can do better.
You just went full circle and now are arguing in support of what I originally claimed.
You’re just mad I didn’t spout off specific incidents and made some grandiose claim that one incident is the ‘root’ of all of this.
You are just being petty and trying to ‘one up’ me. Yeah, it’s a ad hominim attack, because you’re attacking me for an ad hominem reason. You don’t like the way I said something.
I don’t regard you argument as nuanced at all. I regard it as crude and biased to living memory as if our current atrocities are somehow unique and special, they aren’t. Americans always have hated each other and should out internal enemies amongst their fellow citizens. The enemy just changes over time, but there is always one.
This is why the left in this country is such a joke. lots of petty people trying to ‘have the better argument’ rather than just shut up and agree. or worse, trying to be ‘more enlightened’ about an issue, or ‘more woke’ or whatever buzzword virtue status bullshit they are chasing for clout.
First time you’ve been right in this thread.
They hated the frog, because it told the truth.
Removed by mod
What’s the point of bots in here commenting?
There’s been more and more. The internet is basically walking dead. There are extremities that the infection hasn’t really overpowered yet like Lemmy, but Lemmy shares the same circulatory system as the other major organs of the body of the internet, so the infection will eventually overpower these spaces as well.
Well, despite this being a terminal disease, I’m gonna keep reporting them to the white blood cells.
Fuck off with your chatbot
What is this generic ass nothing of a comment. How does this help anyone?
tHiS iS a ToPiC wOrTh DiScUsSiNg
Like no shit. Why do you think it was posted?
Looks like someone testing AI.
